COVID Case Study: Parc Retirement Living, Vancouver [Independent Living]

Jacqueline Omstead (pictured above with her daughter) runs Operations and Sales at PARC Retirement Living in Vancouver. PARC has five independent living locations in Greater Vancouver and four more in the pipeline. Jacqueline has been at PARC for 14 years, and has been GM of two locations. She shared a few perspectives on how the organisation is responding to COVID-19. A video of the conversation is available here. Summary of the takeaways below.

• Operational changes to emphasize safety and security 

  • Visitors signing risk declarations, no non-essential visits

  • Dining room & activities with social distancing

  • Enhanced service offerings e.g. groceries, virtual classes

  • Private Home Support - one designated provider & employee per building

  • Leadership e.g. travel support, working efficiently together to keep up with daily evolutions of the virus

• Communications & connection

  • Private Facebook Group for residents and their families, Facetime, weekly email updates

  • iPads to cross the digital divide

  • Doing an internal tech survey to provide additional programming

• Open to pilots - must serve a need for independent seniors

  • Cost efficient and higher levels of support needed

Note for startups and innovators: Parc is open to explore pilots and partnerships with innovative tech companies, especially around social isolation and engagement. However, startups should be prepared to have reasonable price points and get creative in offering hands-on support, given many residents are still not that tech savvy. Contact stephen@aging2.com if you think you have a good solution. As a reminder,  the COVID-19 innovation submissions portal is here:  http://bit.ly/agetechcovid19submit.